A twenty-item Sungazing Survey on Cosolargy.org elicited responses by posting a link to the survey on several Facebook sites four different times, from May 2017 to July 2017. Some respondents did not respond to every single question, which accounts for percentage anomalies in the results.
Fifty-six people responded to these Facebook posts, none of whom indicated any association with Cosolargy. Thirty-two were male. Twenty-four were female. About a quarter of the respondents had been sungazing for less than 6 months, and almost 20{1fa2ef75e2e78439128d99df03acfe1d8ee3047374abe3d4676fe3470ff8b909} for more than five years.
Reports of Physical Changes:
Two-thirds reported a decrease in sleep.
84{1fa2ef75e2e78439128d99df03acfe1d8ee3047374abe3d4676fe3470ff8b909} said there was a reduction in their caloric intake.
These responses are interesting because they both relate to functions of the hypothalamus.
The hypothalamus is located at the ventral base of the brain directly above the pituitary gland. This structure is quite small, only 4 grams, taking up about 0.5{1fa2ef75e2e78439128d99df03acfe1d8ee3047374abe3d4676fe3470ff8b909} of the volume of the entire brain. It is often divided into ten areas, associated with functions including: hunger, thirst, thermogenisis, sexual activity, goal-seeking behavior, endocrine functions, and influencing activity in the parasympathetic nervous system. Orexin is also produced in the hypothalamus. Orexin is associated with vigilence and wakeful states: people who suffer from narcolepsy seem to have a deficiant orexin-system and respond positively to pharmeceutical orexin. You can read more about this fascinating hypothalamic structure and it’s association with sunlight at: “Sunlight: Oxytocin and Orexin”
These responses are also interesting because only about 90{1fa2ef75e2e78439128d99df03acfe1d8ee3047374abe3d4676fe3470ff8b909} of neural-retinal information is dedicated to image construction. Some of the retinal information has projections to the brainstem area, where blinking and some saccadic eye movements are mediated. Retinal projections also reach the superchiasmatic nucleus (SCN), a collection of neurons that make up part of the hypothalamic structure. The SCN is the first stop for optical-neural information in the retinal-hypothalamic pathway.
During sungazing sessions, people reported the following:
Breath suspension: 32{1fa2ef75e2e78439128d99df03acfe1d8ee3047374abe3d4676fe3470ff8b909}
Time disassociation: 50{1fa2ef75e2e78439128d99df03acfe1d8ee3047374abe3d4676fe3470ff8b909}
Symbols in or around the sun: 30{1fa2ef75e2e78439128d99df03acfe1d8ee3047374abe3d4676fe3470ff8b909}
Double suns: 59{1fa2ef75e2e78439128d99df03acfe1d8ee3047374abe3d4676fe3470ff8b909}
Sun changing from dark to light: 64{1fa2ef75e2e78439128d99df03acfe1d8ee3047374abe3d4676fe3470ff8b909}
In reporting all of the phenomena in this survey, almost 25{1fa2ef75e2e78439128d99df03acfe1d8ee3047374abe3d4676fe3470ff8b909} said it would be advantageous to have a teacher who had learned from others who practiced the art and science of sungazing for generations. 25{1fa2ef75e2e78439128d99df03acfe1d8ee3047374abe3d4676fe3470ff8b909} also reported knowing more than three sungazing techniques.
Most sungazers had perceived the sun to change colors:
41{1fa2ef75e2e78439128d99df03acfe1d8ee3047374abe3d4676fe3470ff8b909} reported one color change
11{1fa2ef75e2e78439128d99df03acfe1d8ee3047374abe3d4676fe3470ff8b909} reported perceived the sun in two different color changes
16{1fa2ef75e2e78439128d99df03acfe1d8ee3047374abe3d4676fe3470ff8b909} said they had seen the sun to appear in three or more different colors
(The color choices provided were: red, blue, green, and violet .)
Negative Repercussions:
Two of the fifty-six participants felt their eyes were harmed as a result of practicing sungazing.*
* These people were not following the methods taught in Cosolargy.
reported by Michael McIntyre
